Help - Having trouble with printing pictures

[eeyoreforever]

I am getting soooo frustrated. I hope someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am still new to the digital camera. I've uploaded some pictures and had them printed (I use WalMart). I get the picture just like I want it before I upload it. Some of them I've cropped, and others I've left alone-just uploaded it exactly the way I took the picture.

The problem is when I get my prints, part of my picture is always missing. It is like it is being cropped for me. I've been experimenting for the last hour, uploading pics and then doing the picture preview. The only time they come out nice is if there is a lot of stuff around the edges that I don't care if it gets cropped out or not. But, if my picture takes up the whole frame, I keep losing the top of peoples heads etc.

What do I need to do to my pics to make the whole thing print out? Resize it or what? Please, I hope someone can help.

 

[tubachick]

I am not 100% sure, but I think it has to do with the proportion of the pic when you crop it. If you are cropping it and it is square shape, and you want to print a 4x6, the computer crops it again to make it fit the 4x6 shape. I am new to the digital thing too, but I think this has something to do with it. I had to play with the cropping for a while also.

 

[JudithM]

First, what editing software are you using?

Second, Tubachick has a good point. I just went through this last weekend. Many of the photos I cropped to use in a graduation gift sb were smaller than 4"x6". when I went to print I had to selct "fit to page" or something like that. You might want to check your printer settings incluing the advanced settings.

 

[hopemax]

Traditional film uses a 2:3 aspect ratio, but most digital cameras store the images with a 3:4 aspect ratio, so in order for the picture to fit on the photo paper (which is 2:3), the top or bottom gets cropped off. To make sure you get the picture you want you need to crop the photo yourself to the 2:3 ratio.

 

[Juliah]

Just to add to what Hope said, Snapfish offers the option of printing your pictures in the digital ratio instead of 4 x 6. We have ordered them in the digital format from Snapfish, and I loved them because I didn't lose any of my original picture. Also, since the prints are slightly smaller than 4 x 6 (I'm guessing about 4 x 5 1/2), I could fit four of them more comfortably on a 12 x 12 page in a scrapbook.

 

[eeyoreforever]

Thanks for the replies. I am using PhotoImpression 5 as my editing software. It is the program that came with my camera (Canon Powershot A-95).

So, this aspect thing sounds like it is probably my problem. One particular picture I am looking at right now say it is

width: 2048
heighth: 1536

So, I guess that is 3:4 like Hope said. Everytime I try to preview it before ordering the print, it is cutting off part of the top and bottom of the 6" side of the picture.

Sounds like I need to crop it first to make the width be 2/3 of the height. So it should be:

width: 2048
heighth: 1366

Is that correct? I had no idea using a digital cameral was going to be such a pain. After I have my coffee, I'll open up my program and try that. I have wasted so much time trying to get prints from my pictures so I hope this will solve my problem.